Spaced Out / On Time, Sep 11 – Oct 11, 2009

Past: 55 Chrystie St

Installation view, *Spaced Out / On Time*, Canada, New York, 2009

Artworks

Chris Martin,
Untitled,
2007–09,
54 × 45 in (137.16 × 114.3 cm)
Oil and collage on canvas

Otis Houston Jr.,
I am Jobless,
72 × 23 × 1 in (182.88 × 58.42 × 2.54 cm)
Mixed media

Sadie Laska,
Redhead,
2009,
40 × 30 in (101.6 × 76.2 cm)
Acrylic and glass beads on canvas

Dona Nelson,
Strange Street,
1991,
56 × 60 in (142.24 × 152.4 cm)
Acrylic, muslin, string on canvas

Joan Brown,
Woman Waiting in a Theatre Lobby,
1975,
70 × 90 in (177.8 × 228.6 cm)
Enamel on canvas

Joan Brown,
Portrait of Tinye van Arnsdale,
1972,
48 × 36 in (121.92 × 91.44 cm)
Enamel on panel

Chris Martin,
Untitled,
2008,
29 × 25 in (73.66 × 63.5 cm)
Oil on canvas

Sadie Laska,
Snake,
2009,
60 × 40 in (152.4 × 101.6 cm)
Acrylic, marker, glass beads, sand on canvas

Agathe Snow,
Piece of My Heart,
2009,
48 × 85 × 3 in (121.92 × 215.9 × 7.62 cm)
Mixed media

Dona Nelson,
Red Mist,
2004,
69 × 80 in (175.26 × 203.2 cm)
Acrylic on canvas

Katherine Bernhardt,
Fall/Winter 1983, GB103,
2009,
96 × 72 in (243.84 × 182.88 cm)
Acrylic, spray paint on canvas

Chris Martin,
Painting with Four Colors and Three Holes,
2008–09,
88 × 77 in (223.52 × 195.58 cm)
Oil on canvas

Katherine Bernhardt,
Tintarella,
2009,
96 × 72 in (243.84 × 182.88 cm)
Acrylic, spray paint on canvas

Otis Houston Jr.,
Obama Book. Obama Cat,
2009,
46 × 40 × 28 in (116.84 × 101.6 × 71.12 cm)
Mixed media

Press Release

"It’s amazing what you can do when you don't listen to what 'they' say." - Otis Houston Jr. (A.K.A. Black Cherokee)

"Baby, I'm not always there when you call, but I'm always on time. And I gave you my all, now baby be mine!" - Ashanti / Ja Rule

Damn you time! And the warships of fashion. I will be my own timekeeper and that way always ready! Be mine! Get physical. Get spaced out. Dismantled this place. Lost in thought and color, and stain, and mess, in construction, in color, in time, ON TIME. Lets get lost! These artists are not afraid to go way over there. Their art is the tether that allows for the trip. The artist can to lose it, forget, get beyond and through and away and follow objects back down to the ground, like a breadcrumb trail. The art is the evidence, the result and the fact of these explorations. No matter how far they go, these things are back here on time. We are lucky to have them all together, now in one place.

These artists make us bigger and braver people. Some of this work we know intimately. As students and colleagues of Dona Nelson, we have been influenced (startled, intrigued, entranced) by her painting for over a decade. For ten years we have commuted past Otis Houston's studio and stage under the Triborough Bridge. His daily practice teaches us what art is suppose to be. Five years ago, Agathe brought potatoes in a spare tire nest to CANADA. To this day she continues to make free sculpture for the next Pepsi generation. Come meet me in the belly of your Whale! Ms. Lily Ludlow introduced us to Sadie Laska who is a drummer and a painter. Her intensely physical paintings in sand and goo are made with brush, stick and sponge. They are from the streets: tar and gum. Cave with the lights off, drip drop. Katherine Bernhardt (who introduced us to Chris Martin) can't be stopped still. Her strong and vulnerable paintings keep the faith (an now keep the time too). Make it! Make it YEs YEs! Joe Bradley asked us to look at the paintings of Joan Brown: where pattern meets painting and spirit is clearly in gear. We haven't been the same since. Her insistence is on her own way, which reminds us of Chris Martin who paints whatever he likes better than most. His works are funk driven and lost and full of painting explored. Close your eyes and let's go, keep digging, deep earth mining. Dig deeper, fry higher. Be Brave!